How to Build a Successful Brand

And so she is a story brand certified guide and marketing expert. She is CPC, which will have for those of you listening who don't know, we'll have to have her explain about her experience in that. And we're going to talk about decoding your brand story now before you say like, Oh, I already know all this shit. You probably don't. Because even though we work so much with so many companies and brands, on the company side, I'm always learning something new from every single person that I talked to. So stick around because if you're in branding, and more importantly, if you're not in branding, these are probably some of the most important podcasts that you're going to want to listen to, because we're really going to dive into the stories and how you can decode all of that. And so, Aaliyah Harrison, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me, Angela. I'm so excited to be here. Yay. So for people who don't know tell him what CPC he is. CPC is a designation from NACE which is the National Association for catering and events. And it stands for catering, catering professional, I'm sorry, certified professional in catering and events, sorry, all of the letters moving around there. So it's it's a certification that I gained. I'm also the national marketing chairperson for NIS and the National Black Caucus chair for nice as well. So I wanted to make sure that I could dive in I owned a catering company, many moons ago, and I wanted to
Yeah.
I wanted to get certified like with what people were doing now, not what we were doing like 10 years ago.
So we have a lot of people listening that are creatives. They're in the hospitality industry. I mean, I grew up in the hospitality industry doing weddings and events. And so I love NACE. I've spoken for many of their chapters all over the place. And when I saw that you have that certification. I was like, I wonder what her tie is like to the marketing and the hospitality. So we have that in common to that is so awesome. All right, we're gonna cover a lot of things we have in common.
So before we dive in and talk about like, Oh my gosh, like catering, and then marketing and how you founded flourish marketing, and how you became a story, Greg, before we go through all of that, like, take us back to how did you grow up? Were you in an entrepreneurial family, like what has gotten you what's been your journey to where you are today? So I grew up in the Bay Area in California, in a small area called Fairview County. So it's in the Bay Area, kind of maybe, let's see.
2030 minutes from Oakland. There.
45 minutes from San Francisco, but it's an unincorporated area that my grandmother and my grandfather moved to after my grandfather got out of the service. And it was at the time, you know, there was a lot of segregation happening and therapy was like a welcoming haven for black, middle class families and he became the quote unquote, unofficial mayor of Fairview County. And that's where my mom lived. Most of her life. My den, she moved from my grandparents house and moved like two blocks away. And that's the house that they she's lived in ever since I was six months old, and she's still there. So
I grew up with it with a single mom. And I've done it with like a little tribe. I call my grandmother Mom, I called my mom mom. I had a room at both houses. I was I was a little girl.
It was it was it was a beautiful way to grow up. But my mom is a nurse. She's been a nurse for over 40 years. Wow. It's just like, Wow.
I was like I haven't, you know, done anything. Well, I'm not even quite that old yet. But I'm like, just think of how long to do that one. Perfection is kind of astounding for me.
And she she's a she's definitely a fighter and a compassionate fighter. So she when I was four years old, my parents got divorced. And
she was working two jobs and getting her master's degree, raising a four year old, very precocious little girl. So I think I get a lot of my drive and kind of a balanced perspective on on life from my mom, because she is definitely, definitely the foundation layer for who I am today. For sure. That's amazing. And so how did you What was your first thing? Like? Did you come out of the gate of like, Okay, this is adulthood? And I'm gonna start a catering company like Was that your?
That first of all, I don't think that I've made it to adulthood yet. Sometimes I'm like waiting
and waiting for someone to like Hand me some kind of like plaque that says it's official urine adult, but I don't know, I'm, I'm
I know, I'm 34 years old. And I'm still waiting to truly feel 100% like an adult, even everything that I've done in my life.
So no, that was not the story.
I actually started in the fashion and cosmetic industry is very, very different. They were not for me, I just couldn't find the substance in it. I really didn't. I mean, like, yes, I do like dress I do like clothes. I do like looking good. But I just great style, great style.
I will accept that compliment.
Now I know how now you know how it got there. But I just I just didn't find the deeper meaning in it. It just didn't sink into my heart like I was looking for. And then it was one of those life things happened where at the time you're like, Oh my gosh, was happening. I got laid off. And I was like, No, how dare they mean, me.
I was devastated at the time that oh my gosh, looking back, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I've been laid off twice in my life. And both of them were were the biggest blessings ever. I always I always joke and it's like when God tells you cuz I knew darn well that I was supposed to have left that job A while ago. And I was like, No, no, no, no, but I'm making pretty good money. No, no, no, no, I'm just gonna stick it out. And God was like, well, maybe you're not gonna do it. I'm gonna do it for
that. And so many people that I talked to on the podcast, they're like entrepreneurs, they all had some type of a layoff. And it was like, they all say it's the best. It's a blessing in disguise. It's the best thing that ever happened. Absolutely. Because oftentimes, you know, it's hard to leave. Like my most recent layoff, not that one, I had golden handcuffs, I was making more money than the average bear. And we were, you know, live in life. We're planning our next you know, international vacation, you know, pre COVID
and, and then I had just bought a new car and then boom,
it all kind of shifted, but it was again a blessing because then
I've flourished with flourish. So But anyway, came from from your company. No, that's a whole different story. So
I
I am very much into personal growth and development and my goal is to equip myself and other people to be better prepared.
The best versions of themselves for what the journey is that lies ahead. So I was looking at oftentimes when we treat life, like a struggle or a battle or something to survive through, we always, we can have opportunities, we can have celebrations, but they're fleeting moments in, in stress, and this kind of pool of, of stress of striving, especially if you're a slightly type A, like I am, like, I don't want to live like that I want life to feel like the celebration all of a time, regardless of what's happening, regardless of what part of the cycle of evolution I'm in. I want to feel like I can flourish and that I am flourishing. And so that's where the name for flourish marketing came from. It was, I mean, if I mean, a lot of the things that I brand, it's like flourish, or growth or thrive or things like that, where it's was for me that the ultimate goal is not just I want to make a bunch of money, which by the way, is still a goal. But it's how I can I do it with freedom and peace? Can I do it and enjoy the journey? Can I do it and really be excited about where I end up in the end? So yeah, that's where flourish came from. And so are you an amazing cook, I am an amazing cook, because
I yeah, I went to culinary school. So after all of that I got laid off. So thank you, thank you for bringing my story back on track, Angela.
Did the catering thing, what the heck. So I got laid off the first time and my sorority sister, I'm a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
And my sorority sister was at my house and she was eating as she was asked to do, and she said, you know, you should go to culinary school. Now. I'm going to say that she said that because it was so good and couldn't have been better not because it was so bad. And she was like, Girl, you know.
And I said, You know what, I've been laid off, I can't seem to find a job doing literally anything. So I'm going to do this thing. And I did, I was accepted to the Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, California. And I went to school there for two years. So I already had my four year degree from the University of Southern California. And then I went back to school, when everybody else was getting their master's degree and my husband's finishing up his doctorate degree now, I was in culinary school where and I started my catering company while I was there, and I finally found that missing piece that I didn't find when I was in the fashion and cosmetic industry that that why that connection to celebration that connection to joy food is food is hyper personal. And when you cook for someone, it's almost like like water for chocolate. If you've read that book or seen that movie, it's it's that is a
probably a little bit of an exaggeration of how I feel when I cook for other people you put in your, your heart and your love and your your hope is that they can feel it, they can feel the joy it makes the wedding even sweeter, because I feel the love that you put into the food. So I fell in love with food and cooking and helping people celebrate the biggest moments of their lives when I was a catering company owner and a private chef. And I slowly transitioned into being more of a private chef than doing catering. I was Stevie Wonder's private chef, and I was Bruce Willis, his private chef, and they traveled all over the world. Yeah, it was it was amazing. I had an amazing journey. And then I said, what else Taipei? Remember, we've already covered that. I'm right, what's next? What's next? This is great. What's next. So I applied to work as a vendor partner on the Google's food team helping to build their global food brand, which is the internal brands for themselves. And it was cool. It was amazing. It was amazing. And then I rose to the ranks of my parent company, and I became the head of marketing for North America for one of the largest food service and facilities companies in the world. And then I'm like, wait a minute, we're all of the people with the celebrations.
Where are the people that are getting married? Where are the people? Where am I I'm not putting love in anybody's food. So I started flourish. While Of course I was working because Taipei, that's what we do.
And then I got laid off from that job. That was the second layoff the second blessing, and then I'm time and I haven't looked back and I've loved it. I get to talk about the celebrations and the love and hear people who just love their craft and then I help them turn their talented cells into making lots of treasure for themselves turning their talent into treasure, because that's that's what I was able to do. And so why not help other people do the same? I love it. So at what point when you got into marketing, did you discover story brand, and for people listening who don't know the brand or what it means to become a certified
Guide, can you walk us through how you made that decision to become a certified guide with storebrand? Absolutely. So this is I always thought that this was kind of weird because becoming a certified guide is not a cheap endeavor, it is not.
When when I did it, it was $10,000. And I said, Okay, I was gonna pay for it out of my own pocket. And I said, or let's see if my company is is when I was still employed. Remember multitasker here. Yeah. Let's see if my company will pay for it. And then I'll apply all of the benefits to my business that I'm running outside and my, my role here as a head of marketing, they said, Yeah, sure, go for it. I'm like, sweet. So I flew. I was actually I wish I had known you then because I was in your hometown.
getting certified in Nashville. Um, we could have had drinks. I'm so sorry. That doesn't happen next time. I'm there. We totally get together. Yes. And I, they paid for me to get certified. And then two weeks later, they laid me off. Why I say blessings, blessings, blessings. Yes. Yeah. So what if you're ever like sometimes you look around at your life, you're like, was I supposed to do that? Was that a good thing or a bad thing. I'm like, this was obviously something I was supposed to do. And, and there was going to be a way made for me to get certified in the first place. And being certified was important, important to me, because I read the book first, and a recommendation of someone who was already successful in business, and I'm like, Okay, I'll read this book, it's kind of gonna be like, whatever I read a lot, I'm not gonna be another business book. I read a lot, maybe like a business book, or two a month. And so I was kind of like, after a while, they almost start to like, sound like the teacher from the Peanuts comic, like Wah, wah, or they start to say the same thing, you know. And when I was reading story brand, that was not the case. It broke through the noise. And it was a very simple, yet profound structure and framework that you can apply to your business to be able to, as they say, clarify your message, and be able to increase the conversion of from strangers into dollars in your bank account. And I was a skeptic, I was moved by the book, to say the least. But I was still a skeptic, until I started making little tweaks just based off of the book to my own stuff. And I was like, Oh, wait a minute. Even I'm more compelled, I would buy this now. Yeah.
It works, as opposed to it sounding all jumbled together. And I said, I got to dive into this. This is going to be something that I can use to propel myself forward. I wasn't even really thinking about it being a differentiator quite yet, in the wedding, catering and event space. But I said, I'm all over the place. I didn't know I was all over the place. I thought I was doing great. But after I read the book, I was like I'm all over the place. How can I make sure that I get it together and then I can help people in the wedding catering events industry get it together. So over four days, I was in Nashville dot certified sat with Don and JJ and Kula Callahan and all of the the trainers and the coaches and and I got my own story together. And then they taught me how to make sure that the marketing funnels of my clients actually work. And for those of you out there who might not be familiar with what a marketing funnel is, a marketing funnel is a tool that savvy business owners use to turn strangers into customers. So at the top of your marketing funnel, you attract them in the middle, you build those relationships, and you can convert them onto your email list at the bottom, you close that sale, you book that client. Well, you can have a marketing funnel that technically has the mechanics, right? All right, like you got something that captures, leads, you have a social media account, and you have a good proposal that you have the mechanics, right, you have the stuff that that the gears will move, but then if you're like, oh, marketing doesn't work, often people say that because they actually don't have the the content, right? They don't have the messaging, right, they don't have the story, right. So they have a shell of the marketing funnel, but they don't, it's not working. Because the stuff that you're saying doesn't actually resonate, if not designed to convert and that's what the story brand framework allows you to be able to do much more effectively it allows you to, to do less to not have so many things that you're doing to try to get customers and and sell to them but to have the things that you do do be more effective and I've loved it. I've loved using it. I use it for everything that we do inside flourish, whether it's social media or websites or email marketing, whatever and and I definitely have seen the difference for myself and for my clients. So if you're wondering like what he which is a big like buzz word thing right now, like your brand's story, it's like, you know, you and I were hearing about this years ago, before
It was all over social media, which this is my brain story. But it's like, I can always tell when listening to people and looking at their brand. And sometimes I just sign up for people's email list because I enjoy going through their funnels. And I enjoy, like, knowing the funnel side of things and knowing the strategy of it. And you can tell who's actually been through like a legit program, versus people who are just wing trying to wing it. And, you know, I've really, really enjoyed and so for people who are listening, who they have not gone through any type of a, an exercise, can you give them a quick pointer on? What is what exactly is a brand story?
Absolutely. So the first thing that I want to clarify, it's amazing how social media and take an idea and bastardize it and then like oh my god.
So the first thing I want to clarify is that your brand's story is not actually about you. So people think that the brand story is this. Well, my grandfather started this company back in 1929. With bacana Anna dog and now we are and then let me tell you about my auntie and I just thought oh my gosh, and I've read wedding planners,
graphic designer Stationers websites with that as their about page and their level. That's my story. And as I know, that's what you tell somebody over drinks, that is not your actual brand story, your brand story. Point Blank is how do you solve a problem for your dream client? And why are you more qualified than the person that does exactly what you do down the street to solve that problem for them? That is the basis of your brand's story. Notice it doesn't start off with what do you like to do the best? Or you know, How cute are you? And what's your headshot and what your grandpa does? It is about your client. And the number one marketing message that wedding catering and events and creative people do not use is the problem. Because when I talk to my clients about this all the time, it's always the part when I'm going over a brand script or when I'm doing website content that they cringe on like, well, but we're not happy. We're about love. We're about joy. We're about celebration and creativity and color. And why would I tell them that as a wedding planner? If they do it themselves? They'll have anxiety that seems negative. But it's the truth girl.
Exactly. I'm like, Oh, right, though. They don't they don't want to say what happens when they don't work with them. And because of that, as an industry as a whole. People don't know what wedding planners do. They think y'all are J Lo. And that's not the case. Right? Ah, there's a lot more organization, I was reading a post today. And if it was yours, it might have even been yours. I don't know, if you posted this on social media, somebody posted today that the average wedding takes a planner 250 hours of work to do 250 hours of work.
Really,
for real, we track our time, because it takes a long time. And you guys all think that everyone knows that. And I hate to break it to you. But no one knows that no one.
Know when someone is just like they're just twitterpated, right? They just got engaged. They're flat footed on cloud nine, they have the binder that they've been gathering since they were a kid. And it's like has the scraps of the dress and the suit and the flowers and the this and they bring you this atrocious thing covered in pink lace. And you're like, oh, wow, you really don't have anywhere to start and you have no idea what I'm going to do with this. But
you guys need to tell your story. And the story is the problem that you solve. What does a wedding planner do educate on your website so that people know very clearly where to put you in their brain? We've spent so much time trying to think outside the bags and be unique and the different. You need to actually put yourself in a box and it needs to be very well defined. Right? That's what that's the purpose of your story so that people can see you. They're like, Oh, Angela, I know exactly what she's all about. Oh Angela, for this is what I talked to her about. This is what she's good at. Oh, yeah. Angela, Her face is like her logo, right? It's beautiful face. But she's like this. That's what Angela Proffitt stands for right. She has a brand. You need to you need to Angela Proffitt yourself. You need to be able to say st get shit done people. Exactly. Exactly. You need to be able to when people say oh, I go to Susie Scherzinger down the street. I don't know
why that's the name.
Shoot Susie Scherzinger she is hyper organized. But she also has a background as a paralegal, and she does minimalist weddings. And so I want a minimalist wedding that is on planet, someone that would be able to negotiate my contracts for me, and I want it done and handled because my main goal is to head off to Tahiti with mabou. Right, you need to gauge yourself. Uh huh. And the first part of your package is the problem that you solve. That's the that if you're if you're in the food space, like I was, that's the center of your plate. That's not the garnish. It's not the sauce. It's not the bed. It's the protein in the middle is the ball.
Yep.
I'm sorry. Like I got on a soapbox. I'm officially getting off of it now. I know. I love it. I love it. So but like the thing is, people don't know. Like, Where to? I mean, to me new. It's like, where do you put your brand story, like, put it on your website, put it on social media. But are there other ways that people can incorporate their brand story like to really close business?
your brand's story should be in every word you write, regardless of where it is. Once you get to know this, either the story brand framework or its Well, it's really just the story brand framework. I'm sorry, I'm super biased. I feel like you should all know that I know this framework. And it works. So if you haven't picked up building a story brand by Donald Miller, go and buy it. And use the framework and think about each piece of the framework as as ingredients to a recipe when you first learn it you are feel very inclined to go from the beginning to the end, you talk about what is your characters problem? I'm sorry? What are your character? What is your character? One? What is their problem? Who are you in relation to them? How can you guide them through? What's your plan? What does success look like? What does failure look like? And if you find yourself needing to write the whole story, you know, that's your about page basically. But you also can pull different sections out and focus on them in different pieces like so for example, I'm just like, Angela, I do a lot of speaking. And my publicist. And I were like, Okay, well, what's, what are some ways that we can help differentiate me and I was like, I want to add a testimonials to my speakers page. That entire every single bit of my testimonial part of my media kit now is focused on the credibility part of my story. I chose testimonials that hit on the different objections that people have to other other people speaking, I chose them so that they can show what success looks like. Some of them I was, I was just really blessed that I had some that showed like, oh, I've heard other speakers that Baba blah, and Allah doesn't do that. But that's what failure could look like. So every single word you write is part of your story. Regardless of where it is this testimonial thing that's just a downloadable PDF on my speaker page. It's not my main website, copy. And it's not my social media strategy. But you want to make sure that you are writing always to your ideal customer, you're always thinking about their problem. The problem is multifaceted. When you first start writing your story, oh planners,
character want or character problem would be something like,
I want a wedding that is like the wedding of the century, right? That's what everybody wants. This needs to be like the wedding to end all weddings. Well, that's not what everyone wants. But let's just say the wedding to end on were nice people.
And people should be talking about this wedding. Because I'm spending a grip of money on it, they need to be talking about this wedding for like the next five to 10 years, like do that for me wedding planner. And that's when you start off. And that's basically stuff that you include on your website, on how to get them there, because that's what they want. And then all the things that are preventing them from getting what they want. But then if you're talking about say you want to get into speaking you're say you want to pitch to be on I guess podcast, the podcast host Yeah, the end user might be people that are getting married. And they do want that. But you're now you're pitching to the podcast host or the person who owns a platform where you're writing a guest blog or the person where you're submitting your real wedding submissions. And they're they know that the end goal of the user might be they want the best wedding ever. But that's not the main problem that you are addressing right off the bat because your audience is slightly different. So you then you begin to play with the nuances of the problem and the solution. When you're on social media. Again, read the book because this will make a whole lot more sense. Once you read the book. I've given you the framework but let me
take each piece of the framework or seven
And each post hit on one part of the framework. So in one post, you might talk about all of the beautiful things that every client of yours your dream client would want, would want. And then the next day you post about something about all of the problems that prevent them from getting them what they want. And then you have a call to action to book with you, then the next one might be a post about your credibility, maybe you just got a new certification, maybe you were featured in press somewhere, I am very, very firmly believing that your social media profile is not your portfolio. That's what a lot of people make a mistake on it. Like everything, it's all about the images. I'm like, well, the images job is to lure people in Who are your ideal customer is the word that do the conversion. So when you're writing the words, you're writing them, so that you are building a storybook, each post is just a part of your story. I haven't touched my personal profile in a while I went back and looked at it the other day, and I think I posted like four times this year on that. But on my business profile, I don't post like that. Yes, I still do post cute selfies because they do happen. And why would I keep that from the world run.
The caption is like, it's not about Oh, shine, and shine and shine. And today look at my glow up. No, that's not the caption. The caption has something to do with how I help solve people's problems. Right?
That. And it's funny because I have some friends that they're not business owners. And they do look at our stuff like just to look at the pictures. And they don't read because they're not business owners. They're not really our target audience. So we're writing for our target audience. And that's like, where my head is when I'm posting anything, usually. Yeah, every once in a while, I'll be like, Hey, here's my niece's. Here's my dogs.
But I'm usually working it in to, like, make a point. Exactly, you know, so it's like, you got to bring it around. But they'll say, the funniest things to me, because they're like, Why? What are you talking about? I'm like, don't, don't try to follow about like you don't, yeah, like you don't own a business. So I don't expect you to understand, but the whole reason I bring this up is because the older I've gotten, and the more I've gotten into like clarifying my business and how I can help people, those people end up becoming like my friends and family group, because some of my friends like I can't help them, they don't want the help. And that's not where their headspace is. And I have less and less and less in common with them. So it's like, you know, things shift. And so you know, just know, like, if you're listening, and you're like, I feel like I'm losing all my friends, because I'm starting this business. And you're, you're starting to think differently, you're starting to put something together that's actually going to convert for people that you can actually help. Like, that's a normal process. Like, I don't know if you went through that too. Like, it can be kind of lonely, and but it's part of your growth. And so absolutely nothing wrong with that. Like I just want people to know that. I think that that's a really poignant, especially because often as people at least I don't want to I want to talk about y'all. How about law? Talk about me, me. I don't know y'all like that. So I was thinking that if I collected people in my circle, that those are the people that would stay with me forever. I was like hoarding people. And as I grew, personal land, I already talked to you about how personal evolution is a is a thing for me. People were not always growing with me. And then I felt the need to still hold on to everyone. And you don't need to hold on to everyone. You don't want to necessarily just be like, oh, bye, bye, like, cut everybody off. But you have to realize that people are not always meant to be in your life forever. And as you become a business owner and you become focused, you don't need those friends in your life that are saying, Well, I haven't seen you or talk to you in two weeks. It's me right? It's me. I know it's me. No, you need someone being like, Hey, girl, I ordered you some doordash because I don't think that you know what the weather is like outside. But I'm rooting you on and I'll make sure you're fed. And when that launch is over, when wedding season's over when engagement season is over, let's go grab some
other people who you want to hold on to. right there's a different type of support, they get it they might not they might be a you know, just a normal nine to five kind of work or they might not be an entrepreneur but they can see your hustle and they can appreciate it. And they're rooting you on you need.
Nor is rough. I don't know if it's just me. I don't think so. But it is wrong.
Especially this year, it's been interesting, interesting.
Interesting is like the word of the year. Just it's interesting. Yeah, yeah.
And you so you started to mention, there's like steps to everyone creating the brand story. And so I want to make sure that you guys know the steps. So like you mentioned, there's a character, they have a problem. And then if my brain serves me correctly, it's like maybe the guide Yes, the God. And then like your brand's the hero and then like, what are the other steps? Because I want to make so I think he said there were seven. There are seven. So the first is you define your character and your and their wants. So character, and then they you define the problem. And there's two different types of problems there, you know, internal and external kind of problems there.
Actually, there's three and then there's a philosophical problem. So you have a character who has a problem that's preventing them from getting what they want. And then they meet a guy do you because in this is this the the story brand framework was modeled after the hero's journey. And I want to be very clear that you are not the hero. Sorry, you are the guy.
So
they are the hero. And the reason is because there's really only room for one here on anybody's story, and they're already the hero in their own eyes. So why tell them any different and you also don't want to be the hero. The hero is the weakest character. The hero in Harry Potter is Harry Potter and Harry Potter needed all the help, right? The books called Hermione Granger. The books not called Professor McGonagall or Albus Dumbledore. Sorry, can you tell them a big fan? Those are not heroes. They all right, the guides and he has a lot of guys. Right. Hagrid? Right? throughout the entire series. He's the weakest character that needs help. And that's but but but the victory is his because he perseveres. And that's just like, when you're planning someone's wedding, the wedding is still their wedding. At the end of the day, what you're giving them is the moment where their guests come up the well that was about do you want them to say thank you for giving that to me, thank you for allowing me to be the hero, thank you for guiding me to this place of my ultimate wedding destiny, but not your wedding. Right. So you're the guide. And in order to be a guide effectively, you need to demonstrate credibility and authority and empathy in order to get there. And then you have to have a plan because it doesn't matter how cool you are, if you don't tell them what to do, then you're just a cool person that they like your Instagram pictures, you need to actually tell them how you're going to get them from the place where they have their problem to the ultimate success of what they want.
And then you need to paint what success looks like because you so it's a character who has a problem and meets a guide who has a plan and that plan leads them to success and helps them avoid failure. You need to say this is what this will look like when you work with me. And oh Btw, if you don't want to work with me, first of all, I'm going to get inside I and second of all, I'm going to tell you, all of the things that you will will happen to you that will go awry. As you decided to DIY like all of the well intentioned and incredibly stressed out couples before you. Let me let me paint that picture of looks like people are more apt to move away from pain than towards pleasure. That's just how we're wired. So sometimes you have to add it's a little bit of a sprinkle not a lot, not doom and gloom over here, right just a little bit of a sprinkle of what they what could happen if they don't work with you. And that's that's a little bit of a secret sauce kind of thing that went that I would love to see more in wedding and creative messaging because I don't see a lot of that at all. And if it's hard Stationers are like well if they don't use my stationery, they'll use someone else's. Yeah, but what is but why why is yours better? What type of techniques do you have? What type of
paper do you use? How's your creative process different? How's your customer service process different? And by the way, it could be the difference between using a station or or going to staples or Office Max and thinking that you're going to get the same quality when you print it off on your HP printer at home. What does that gonna look like? And stationaries very first thing a disaster Exactly. A stationary is a very first tone that gets set about your wedding or your any event really so right painting those pictures about what is what is the problem what they could be avoiding. If they just would simply wise up and pay you the money and work with you. It's like the best investment ever. It's priceless. Yeah.
When someone writes their brand's story
Like as they go through the years, like, I mean, you and I both we have, you know, the events and the catering and the planning and the design and all that under our belts, and then we get bored. And then we pivot and do something different, not necessarily a pandemic is making us, you know, pivot like we started these pivots beforehand. But do we evolve the brand story? Or do you think it should stay consistent? Your brand story is always evolving, most most, most
evolutionary points happen or should happen, by the way that your customer wants, and problems are evolving. So if you have made a decision that you want to just say, Actually, I've been doing wedding planning this whole time and actually don't want to do wedding planning anymore, I just want to focus on doing design and somebody else can do the planning, then you need to figure out okay, what is the problem that I'm solving for? Now? That's what I want. But how do I match up that up to the problem? If then, if you are in a pandemic, and you're pivoting, you need to have a real good understanding of what is the current problem? And how are you solving it. That's how your story pivot, it's, it's not something that is stagnant, your messaging will evolve, it just shouldn't be consistent for a time, right? So you want people to be able to understand who you are, and you don't want to change and pivot your your brand story so much that people get confused, or there's no consistency, and they can't recognize you. But then you start saying, Okay, next year, I am going to intentionally pivot in this direction, what is the shift that I need to have happen, and then you start into interspersing, mental paradigm shifts for your ideal client to get them from where they are their current problem, what they're realizing and what you've been talking about as their problem to what the next problem is that you're going to be solving. So that it's not an abrupt transition, you need to have a shift, and it needs to be smooth and intentional, with about three to five different key points and key messages that you use on their journey towards pivoting your your brand is what I'd recommend. Awesome, right. And it's like, even though we used to do so many weddings and events, like the problem was are always the distraction. And then like, for me, the outcome is like productivity, like how to be more productive, regardless of how you're using this strategy. You can use it in wedding planning, you can use it in accounting, you can use it in any industry, but the strategy of it, and the problem and the outcome really hasn't shifted. It's all people planning weddings, they're distracted, they have work, they have other things. That's where you hire planner, so you invest in those things. And then the outcome is, you know, yes, you want this big Wow. And you want I mean, business owners want a return on their investment.
Wedding couples and corporate people, they want a wow to an event. So when people leave, they're like, Damn, that was amazing. And you know, if it's a nonprofit events, like I want to go back next year, so it never really it goes from industry to industry, and making sure that like your problem, and the outcome, like for us hasn't really changed. So, but you're exactly right. You have to make sure that you're tying it all together, so you don't confuse the hell out of everybody.
Yeah, you don't want to look like you're like schizophrenic right back there. Like I don't know what you're about at this point in time. You're just throwing random words at me for what not to do.
So can you walk us through like the know and the like, and the trust factor? Like what is that? What does that mean? Absolutely. So I don't think about it this way. You are not McDonald's. However, McDonald's is pretty potent, right? Like, there have been times in the past where hypothetically I've been driving with my window down caught the set of fries had the fries in my mouth didn't even know what happened. I didn't even remember going to the drive thru. I didn't even remember pay. I don't know how much it was. And all of a sudden I have those crack coated fries. I don't know what they put in those things. But I have it in my mouth. My fingers have that nice little burn going on. I can feel it. And I'm in heaven, right? I don't even eat fast food like that. But I mean, hypothetically, that has happened.
Yeah. But you my friend are not McDonald's, you are closer to the French Laundry. The French Laundry is one of my goal restaurants. I told myself that when I hit a certain level and this current business that I'm going to treat myself to the French Laundry, it's about $1,000 a person and it's by my chef crush. It's a Michelin star restaurant called and his name is Thomas Keller, and it's in Napa County.
California 1000 bucks a person. Wow. That's why that's my goal that's like, you know, gotta you gotta have goals for yourself and reward. That's my goal.
You're more like that than McDonald's. I'm just gonna swing on by the French Laundry, pop on and be like, yeah, give me what you got. I mean, like, this is my lunch break, I'm gonna go and hang out and do that. No, no, we're gonna plan that out. You're gonna save up for it. Like I said, it's a goal place for me to go. You have to plan the, the, the accommodations for travel, it's, it's not an impulse buy. So I need to know a lot more about the French Laundry than I need to know about McDonald's. Before I make that purchase. I need to know about the chef, I need to know about the location. I need to know what the heck why how do they get off? charging $1,000 a person I need to know all of that. I might need to know your kids names before the trek, up to Yorkville in the Napa area in California to drop $1,000 on some food. Yes, $2,000 can I get from my husband? So $2,000 on some food.
That's why I know like and trust is important. Because like I said, You are closer to French Laundry than you are to McDonald's. people when they drop $10,000 on a wedding planner. They're like, Oh, yeah, I'm just gonna let me just I think that I have that of the change in the bottom of my purse. Most likely, that's not what happens, right? They need to know that you're going to be on time credible, you have the systems, you have the service, you have the experience, you have the accreditations, the awards, all of those things, before they can book with you. They also need to know that you're not like a dick. Like they even know that they can sit and talk to you yeah, for a year of their lives. So you can build that up on a larger scale. It doesn't have to be necessarily right after you have that
consultation call or during that consultation, call it in that proposal. That's your it's too late. By that point in time really, they kind of they're shopping around, they need to know a whole lot more about you. And that's where marketing comes in. To build that know, like and trust. If we tie it back to store your brand. It's the guide part of your story, where you're you're building that credibility and you're also demonstrating empathy by showing how much you understand their problem, how you've helped solve it for others, what other people have said about you and your testimonials, referrals, all of that, so that by the time they they're actually sitting down and saying, Hey, babe, we need a planner. I'm not doing this myself. They're like, Well, you know, Susie Scherzinger she's back Susie Scherzinger. I think great. I've on her Instagram profile and on I've been following her for a while and I'm honored email list with bt dubs is the place where you want to try to get everybody I have a whole email, love affair. So that's what your goal is for everybody on your email list.
And I think that she's the one for us Let the book with her because I know this about her. She shows up regularly, consistently with a consistent message and a consistent brand image. Let's let's check out Susie. That's why know like and trust is important because relationships, equal sales. And if you're not intentionally building those relationships, then your marketing funnel, your sales funnel your lead generation is is is non existent. And you're doing what I like to call hope marketing. Man, I hope I get a booking. Man, I hope I hope someone do.
I hope that this works. I hope that is an Emmy. And granted to be an entrepreneur, you have to have hope you can't survive without right. But it can it's not a strategy. I know. I know, you know, hope is not a strategy. But you might not know exactly what the strategy is, again, start with the problem that you solve. Start with how are you going to build relationships, especially now digitally, which is you're not going to wedding Expo anytime soon. You're not going to any type of early in person networking event anytime soon. So what how can you intentionally build those relationships online? Spoiler alert, use email marketing and use your social media accounts
with a strategy, amen. That I think that you guys need to know that so they can text storytel to this number. And 3777 Yeah, so we'll put in the show notes 33777. And you will get a free storytelling blueprint implementation guide that's going to guide you on how to tell your story. No matter what industry you're in. This works for. And I've seen it work in every industry that we have helped. And it's specially it's so important for the creative community because we are not wired like the attorney industry where attorneys
That whole lawyer industry has done a phenomenal job of really, really telling the story to consumers. So for example, when you talk to not only business owners, but people who are not entrepreneurs, they know that every time they are with their attorney, they send an email or they pick up the phone, they're like, Well, that was just $350 for 20.
Why that? I don't know what they did to create that foundation? I don't know. But they held to have like, met in a back room somewhere. I would like how did you get there?
The creative community needs to be more upfront with Listen, and you set a girl the time, the knowledge, the skills, the heart, all of that stuff builds you credibility, and guess what somebody has been that's been in it for a year versus somebody that's on your 20, you're gonna invest much more, because of where that person is now. And so don't I love the the sweet emails that I get? I'm a brand new photographer, can we have coffee? I'd love to get on your list. And I'm like, I don't know what list you have fabricated in your head that I have. Wait a minute, can I get on whatever that coffee
talking about, I'm happy to sign you up for a coaching program on like, how to be a good business owner. But in terms of collaborating, and actually working together with a client, you've got to start where other people are. So there's probably there's new planners out there. And you guys could collaborate great together, because you're actually starting around the same time. I'm not here to babysit and teach. That's another service line.
You know what I mean? I'm just like, were these that no one is guiding the creative industry on how it really is done. And so you know, somebody's got to tell them. So it's like, Sure, go read these three books. Let me know your top three takeaways from these three books story, read me one of them. And then I can hop on the phone for 30 minutes of a complimentary session to see how we can grow your business. And it's like crickets. There's right people don't follow up. They're just they they're in love with the idea of what you do. Like, that's what I've learned, right? Don't all want to put in the hard work. And the difference between businesses who fail and business thrive. Yeah, that dedication, like, yeah, it's so funny people get into businesses, and being an entrepreneur, I'm going to work for myself and set my own hours. I'm like, great. So your hours are gonna be like 14 hours a day, seven days a week. That's what being an entrepreneur actually, if I love all 14 hours every single day, yes, I have to get exhausted. But that's what you're doing. So if you're trying to put the same effort in as that nine to five, it's not gonna work, especially not right in the beginning, you're going to need to be able to be literally everything. You're your sales person, you're your best. You know, employee, your you are your HR department, and you are your learning and development department all at once. Welcome to entrepreneurship.
Exactly, no, I get those calls, too. And sometimes you can just tell you're like, I'm going to send you these three books titled I'm never gonna hear from you again, because you aren't willing to put in in the work. Yeah, this stuff. So Angela, you make it look easy. I'm just gonna put it out. I think that that's what part of the problem is, I mean, you look at like,
I don't know, like listeners out there. When the last time you're on Angela's website, but I was on there earlier today. And I was like, Wow, she makes this look like she woke up blinked. And this is just what happened. I will make this look easy. That's how she she's a pro Angeles Pro. When you go out there in the world. And you see these pros who make it look effortless. It's more like you're seeing the tip of the iceberg or depending on the pro you're seeing that duck floating on water that like looks all calm is like paddling frantically underneath. That's what it actually is. So you can't go and say oh, I want my Angela has she's a cute little website, website.
That's not
her ask for your right to get to the point where you think that you can get hung up on a phone call and make it work. That's not that's not how entrepreneurship works. And I think that this was our tough love corner for the day. Mm hmm. It's it's a journey. And you can't compare your today to like our today. And but what what you can do is like the new people that are reaching out
Learn and follow. And there's so much free information out there. But it's like, are you actually going to take the information, work through it go through the strategy stuff. And that's how you're going to grow the quickest or, you know, hey, if you can invest in a program and that a lot of these things that we've learned, especially how we got into sales funnels out a friend years ago, who was like you work way too hard. Like, you need to get into, like, funnels and, you know, I jumped into Infusionsoft and got in bed with them many years ago, my team calls that confusion soft, but it's like,
and, but I'm glad that it happened, because it was many years of listening to Russell Brunson saying, Yeah, you can wake up and have a million dollar funnel. And it's like, it ain't fucking that easy. People know it's real. It's not it's like testing and spending money and getting data and tweaking, and re tweaking and relaunching and taking feedback and asking for feedback. And it takes a, hey, if you do it overnight, and you're that lucky, good for you. Good. But I have not seen it or experienced it, nor has anyone, any of my entrepreneur, entrepreneur mastermind groups experienced that, like, you got to put in the work, you got to put in the effort. And if you want something bad enough, you will commit the time to doing it, period, period. So again, if you want the free storytelling blueprint implementation guide, and we'll put it in the show notes, too. You can text story, tell 233777. And then if they want to connect with you on social, what's your play, favorite platform? I know I have. I have all of the places. You just come and follow me on Instagram at alayah. Harris LEYHAR is love it. And this was awesome. Thank you so much for being here today. And everybody that's listening. And thank you so much for your time. I know you got lots of great takeaways in nuggets, little bit of motivation in there and go check out the book. We love story. rainworth story brand geeks together. Tune in next week to another episode of business unveiled everybody have a great day. Bye. What's up GST leaders thank you so much for tuning in. And I would love for you to text me your number one takeaway, any feedback that you have, and we're also starting a new series called The number one time suck how you can be more productive and GSD and everyday life so you can be present. So if you can help us out and let me know just text me your number one time sub 6155 to 78755. Let's get shit done.